The Cove Encounter
by Com. Jane Kelly
Summary: What if Astrid found out that she liked Hiccup when she was trying to find out how Hiccup had gotten so good in the arena? She finds the cove 2x and it plays out differently.


Astrid never felt more frustrated in her life. She knew Hiccup was hiding something but she didn't know what is was. She was angry before with Hiccup but now she angrier since he gets to kill the monstrous nightmare in front of the whole village and not her. Her suspicions were even more aroused when she almost caught him a few times. Whenever she tried to convince someone, they just brushed her off and told her that she's slowly going crazy.

"I'm telling you, he's up to something in the woods." Astrid said trying to get people to listen to her. "Astrid, you don't need to get all worked up about this. I'm sure everything is fine." Said Snotlout. Astrid just rolled her eyes at him, "guys, this is serious!" She said.

They just looked at her, "maybe he's just tired of us pushing him around, so he decided to be better than you or something" Tuffnut said looking at Astrid. "Maybe, we should be nicer to him and try to become his friends at least regardless of what Astrid believes he's doing" said Snotlout. "I've seen the way he looks at you. I believe he likes you"

Astrid just slapped her face in disbelief, "he better not like me," She muttered, "also I'm not going crazy!" Ruffnut just looked at her, "seems to me that you are going crazy." Through clenched teeth she muttered, "I'm not going crazy and I'm going to prove it"

She stared at her friends in disbelief, "are you guys seriously not concerned about any of this? I've seen him, wearing something other than his furs, sometimes with a rod of some kind or a basket of fish. How does that not arouse any suspicion from you guys?" She asked clearly angry. "You are full of hot air. You need to chill out before I start calling you, Astrid the Insane" said Snotlout and all she could do was give him a death glare. Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut gave each other glances and backed out of the conversation

They looked at Snotlout and then back at Astrid, completely unsure of what's going to happen. "Looks to me that Astrid is getting jealous of Hiccup's dragon training ability." Snotlout said. The three teens looked at each other and knew where this is going is gonna be really bad, "Snotlout, maybe you should stop" but he ignored them. "Astrid the Insane is a much better name for you" he said trying to get on her nerves. He couldn't tell if she heard him or not, so he repeated it again, just to have Astrid snap back at him, "I've heard you the first time!"

That's when Hiccup came in and sat at the table next to him and they rushed over to sit next to him. Astrid was about to drink from her cup when she noticed that her friends and some Vikings went over to sit next to Hiccup leaving her alone at the table. "So that's how it's going to be. Turn my friends against me. Say I'm crazy to my face. Start calling me, Astrid the Insane. I'll show you Snotlout." she muttered angrily as she slammed her cup down and stormed out of the great hall.

Once outside, she went to go find Gobber. She went to the forge but he wasn't there. So she waited outside before walking inside and looking at Hiccup's workshop. She looked at and studied his drawings intensely. She noticed that he had drawings of inventions, weapons, Vikings, very detailed dragons, the teens, several detailed drawings of her and a night fury. "So, he likes me? And I'm assuming he's seen a night fury." She muttered to herself. She continued looking around when she heard someone pounding away at something and when she looked to see who is was, it happened to be Gobber. "Hey Gobber? Have you seen Hiccup?" She asked. Much to her disappointment, he was still in the great hall. She continued looking around looking for something, and she saw some designs, 'I hope I don't start feeling the same way about him, if he likes me'

A few minutes later, Hiccup went to his workshop and began working on a design for something, when Astrid tapped him on the shoulder. "What do you want...?" He asked but didn't realize it was Astrid, he was talking to so he just turned away while blushing, clearly too embarrassed to talk to her face.

Astrid just stared at him, "so what have you been up to?" She asked with a half smile as he looked away, clearly embarrassed. 'He seems cute when embarrassed' and then she shuddered when she realized what she was thinking about. She seemed to like him to some degree but she wasn't letting that stop her.

"I'm working on the blueprints for a new kind of weapon." He said turning in her direction but not looking at her face. She then turned her attention to the detailed drawings of her in different stances and picked one up, "so Hiccup, when did you plan on telling me about this?" She asked holding a drawing of her in a hand. Hiccup, however, was too embarrassed to say anything so he held out his hand.

"Can you please give me the drawings?" He finally managed to say. She just looked at him funny, "why? What are you going to do with them?" She asked a little suspicious and concerned at the same time.

"I'm going to go tear them up, along with all these other drawings since you've seen them" he said still not looking at her. This made her suspiciousness go away for a few minutes, "Don't tear them up. I was actually thinking of keeping some." She said and he just motioned to them and she took a couple to keep and she began looking at a couple drawings of her and of a couple dragons. 'Hmm, these seem pretty good. He seems to be better looking than Snotlout' she thought and that's when she mentally slapped herself when she realized what she was thinking.

He then went back to work on the blueprints and Astrid just watched him and he seemed to be uncomfortable with her presence. "Um, why are you here?" He asked curiously. "Well, I'm here because I know you are doing something in the woods" she said proudly. He sighed, "let me guess, you are here because you believe that I am hiding something and which is why I have gotten better in the arena and you want to prove yourself to your friends so they can trust you again" he said in a sarcastic tone.

Astrid just looked a bit surprised and he shielded himself because she looked like she was going to hit him but nothing happened. "Yeah, how did you know?" She asked, referring to the last part, looking right at him. He mustered up some courage to face her, "well, I've heard it from Snotlout and he told me that you are slowly going crazy, have anger issues, easily gets jealous and he told me to avoid you as much as possible incase you go full insane" he said looking at her. It took her a few moments to register what he said before, "Snotlout!" She screamed and that's when something snapped inside her and she began taking her anger out on an unused wall. "I see how it is Snotlout. You are going to pay for this" she muttered angrily as she punched and kicked the wall. Eventually, she broke through the wall, "there's metal plating over there if you want to use it" Hiccup said while pointing to it, and she began kicking and punching the metal plating. "Feeling any better?" He asked and she just stared at him, "a little bit" she muttered.

Hiccup just took a step outside and saw that Snotlout had arrived for something and they began talking. She heard Snotlout, stopped beating up the metal and took an axe with her and flung it at him, narrowly missing Snotlout and hitting the piece of wood next to him. Hiccup seemed to know that she was coming so he just moved to the side as she rushed by and began beating up Snotlout. He just smiled to himself when he saw Astrid beat up Snotlout. "You will regret everything you've told people about me!" She screamed as she punched and kicked Snotlout. Hiccup reached for a sword for himself and her, just to have some fun.

She continued beating Snotlout up for a few more minutes, until she ran out of energy and collapsed on the ground but she still had some anger left inside her. Snotlout seemed impressed as he got up, stumbled a few feet before passing out. "I can't believe I just did that. What am I? Some sort of monster? Maybe I am crazy. I guess Snotlout is right about me." She muttered as she pressed her hands into her forehead while rocking back and forth, while trying to figure out what to do next, unbeknownst to her, Hiccup was listening to her.

She jumped a bit when something metal landed beside her and when she looked up, she saw Hiccup handing her a sword. "What is this for?" She asked, clearly confused about why she's being given a sword. "We are going to sword fight for fun" he said, she looked like she was about to protest, "Astrid, I don't believe you are a monster or crazy. I think you have too much energy that needs to be let out, inside your body" he said giving her the sword and he stepped outside and waited for her.

Astrid stayed in the same position on the floor, trying to compose herself and thinking about something. 'Does Hiccup really like me? I've had something nudging me to go ask him. I don't think I like him but I keep thinking about him. Well, there is only one way to find out.' she thought. After a few minutes, she finally got up and went outside where Hiccup was waiting for her. He had his sword drawn waiting for her to do the same, and luckily for him, he was taught sword fighting by Stoick and Gobber.

She felt like she needed to talk to Hiccup about his feelings for her and his secret. "Hey Hiccup? I need to talk to you about something." She said looking at her sword. "Astrid, if this is about what Snotlout said about you, I already know that it isn't true. Also Snotlout isn't right about you" he said. Before she had a chance to say anything, Gobber sounded something and they began fighting. The two dodged, lunged, blocked, and locked swords. She looked over at Hiccup and he looked like he's having fun and Astrid didn't know what she was feeling. A bunch of Vikings and Viking teens came over and watched since they had nothing better to do. They locked swords again, "you are doing well" he said before he stepped backwards attempting to lunge again. She rushed forwards and disarmed him and knocked him off his feet. The Vikings started cheering for the winner congratulated the winner before they all went back to their homes.

"Did you let me win?" She asked as she helped him up, "I did. Only cause I didn't want to see you angry again. Good fight" he said with a grin. She was about to say something when Gobber came over, "Hiccup, this is a good idea. We should have more sword fights just for entertainment." He said and Hiccup seemed to agree with that. She looked around and saw everyone walking back to their homes to get ready for bed. Hiccup returned the swords, but he was told by Gobber that he can keep his, and finished up what he had to do, "well I'm off to bed now" he told Gobber and Astrid but mainly Gobber as he walked back home. Astrid just stood there looking at him for some period of time, almost like she was in a trance, but didn't realize that Gobber was trying to get her attention.

Hiccup stopped at his door and looked back and saw Astrid staring at him, "why is she staring at me?" He asked no one in particular before walking inside to go to bed. "Astrid! Hello? Anybody home?" Asked Gobber waving his hand in front of her. "Huh? Ohh sorry. I was distracted" She said sheepishly. "I've noticed that. You've haven't been your usual self when around Hiccup. Why don't you go talk about your feelings to him. I know he likes you since he talks about you to me. He might be awake but you might want to ask him tomorrow" he said. She thought about his words for a few minutes, "thanks Gobber" she said as she took off running towards Hiccup's house.

Unfortunately for her, he was already asleep. She heard from Stoick and Gobber talking that he is a heavy and light sleeper. So she started shaking him, screaming at him, along with other things that usually woke her up but he slept soundly. She gave up on trying to wake him and she saw the sword, that Gobber has given him, on his side table, so she just watched him sleep and that's when she discovered that he talks in his sleep. She just chuckled softly to herself, "he's cute when he's sleeping. Maybe, I should sleep here for the night.' She mentally slapped herself for thinking that, 'if he sees me sleeping with him in the morning, that will probably freak him out' she thought as she left and went back to her house.

Once in her bed, she couldn't stop thinking about Hiccup and how cute he is. She immediately thought about that one night when she happened to be outside and encountered Hiccup in Gobber's forge. She replayed that scene every night in her head, trying to make sense of it before she went to bed each night.

...

Start flashback

Astrid had been outside in the dark and she felt like walking around just to tire herself out. She was walking when she heard something at the forge and she rushed to see what it was. She knew that most of the Vikings and teens were asleep. "Hiccup? You in there?" She called out as she got closer. Hiccup knew he was in trouble since he was stuck to Toothless' sattle and the last thing he needed was someone like Astrid to get him in trouble, "oh no. Not her." He muttered quietly. He jumped out the window startling her a bit and closed it before she could see Toothless.

She could've sworn that she saw two green eyes and something that looked like a dragon. "Hey Astrid. Hey Astrid. Hi Astrid." He said and she just looked at him funny. "Um, right. Are you sure you're alright because you are acting really weird." She said. Luckily for Hiccup, he was able to fix the attached string right before he went out to greet her but now he had to find a reason to get her away. "So, do you need anything?" He asked her when they heard something heavy fall down in the forge. "What was that?" She asked curiously to which he just responded "I didn't hear anything" which made her roll her eyes as she went to check it out.

She looked and didn't see anything until something hit her square in the face really hard, to which she covered her face as she fell to the ground. Hiccup felt relieved because she didn't see Toothless only because he used his tail to fling a bucket at her. "Ow" she managed to say as she struggled to get up, only to see Toothless staring at her, to which she ended up passing out for a few minutes. Hiccup propped her up against the outside wall so she wasn't lying on the ground.

Toothless grabbed a few more buckets, with his tail, to fling at her incase she saw him as Hiccup got on his back. Astrid's unconscious body slid to the side so she ended up with a bucket in her face. She awoke a couple minutes later and immediately saw the bucket. "So this is what was thrown at my face." she muttered as she struggled to stand up, only to see a dragon on the far side of the plaza.

She froze a bit in fear, not wanting to scare it off or wake anyone. "Dragon!" She croaked. She saw someone sitting on top of the dragon but didn't know who it was. She grabbed an axe and slowly walked forward just to be pelted with buckets directly to the face. Hiccup leaned forward to hide himself on Toothless so he couldn't be seen but he was able to see her, "now bud!" He muttered.

She got hit with multiple buckets to the face, once she protected her face she got hit with multiple buckets to the body and legs. "Stop throwing buckets at me, you stupid dragon!" She yelled, only to get a few more buckets pelted at her face before passing out again. She awoke a few minutes later, to find the dragon in the air and she tried to find a way to get around it without being noticed. Unfortunately for her, Hiccup and Toothless spotted her and she got another bucket flung at her face. When she looked back up the dragon was gone, and she slowly made her way back home. Once home, she took off her clothes and checked her face and body to see how hard she was hit. As she checked herself, she had at least several large bruises on her legs and body and a few cuts on her face. She went in her tub filled with cold water for about 30 minutes and after she climbed into her bed, she passed out.

End flashback

...

After that incident, she was uncomfortable around buckets and ended up developing an irrational fear of people holding buckets, for a couple weeks, incase they ended up throwing it at her, which got Snotlout's attention and he started making fun of her for that. She never liked Snotlout to begin with, since she thought he was mean and he often made fun of her and everyone else. So she tries to avoid Snotlout as much as possible.

As she thought about that one night, a bunch of questions came to her mind, "Where did Hiccup go when I passed out? I swear he was there before I passed out but where was he after I passed out. I think I heard him saying something before the dragon threw buckets at me. I'll probably go ask him tomorrow." That's when realization hit her, "I wonder if he is training a dragon?" She muttered, "that wouldn't surprise me at all."

...

The next day, she found out, from Gobber, that Hiccup will be dropping weapons off at the weapon shed in the forest somewhere. "Astrid, I'm guessing that you are going to talk to him about your feelings for him?" He asked. Which broke her out of her trance as she stared at the forest, "what? Yeah, I'm going to." She said with a smirk. "Just don't scare him or hurt him." He said.

A few minutes later, Hiccup came out of the forest but went to the dock and got a basket of fish for Toothless and then went to the forge with the fish basket tied to his back. Gobber saw the fish basket but he thought Hiccup was trying new things. Astrid just didn't know what to think about it. "Hey Gobber. Hey Astr... Uh Gobber, what is she doing here?" He asked as he pulled the blacksmith aside. "I'm guessing, that she's going to accompany you and talk to you while you drop stuff." He said. Hiccup, however, just looked annoyed, "anyone but her. Keep her talking so she doesn't follow me immediately " he told the blacksmith and Gobber agreed.

Hiccup was about to walk away before Astrid laid a hand on his shoulder, before she could say anything, "I think Gobber wants to talk to you." Hiccup said much to her disappointment. She sighed and went over to Gobber, who just talked about his stories (Boneknapper, etc) just long enough for Hiccup to go into the forest, and after a few minutes, he stopped and let her go. "Ok, Hiccup. Ready to go?" She asked as she turned around only to meet thin air, "oh, you've got to be kidding me. Stick me with Gobber just long enough for you to escape. This is unbelievable!" she muttered as she got her axe and started walking through town to get to the forest, only to run into Snotlout who wouldn't let her go.

"Ugh, anything but Snotlout" she muttered as she put her face in her palm. Snotlout seemed intent on having her stay there for a very long time. She pulled over a bucket and sat down on it, expecting to be there awhile. Hiccup dropped off the basket of fish at the weapon shed that is closet to the cove. He made 4 trips back and forth and stopped for awhile at the forge and talked to Gobber while waiting for more weapons to be dropped off.

Hiccup, would be carrying weapons, passed by the two and Astrid just stared at him, wishing she was with him, instead of Snotlout. He made several more trips to the shed and back to the forge. After a while, Astrid stood up and tried to get away from Snotlout but he just followed her and continued talking which ended up Astrid punching him in the face really hard, knocking him out. "Finally, I'm free to go find Hiccup." She muttered as she got her axe and walked to every weapon shed just to find him and the basket of fish.

After a while, she finally found the shed but didn't see the basket of fish or Hiccup anywhere, so decided to throw her axe at trees. Unbeknownst to her, Hiccup was riding Toothless for a few hours until it was dark. Some Vikings saw the dragon but watched it just fly around and did nothing since it wasn't harming them. "Ugh, where is he? He's supposed to be here by now." She muttered a bit in frustration since she knew if she left Hiccup would show up. Toothless and Hiccup landed in the cove and Hiccup made Toothless a tail, so he could fly on his own and put that on. Hiccup left the cove, only to run into Astrid and she was a bit surprised to see him.

"Oh finally! There you are Hiccup! I've been looking for you all day!" She said in an excited tone. "Uh Astrid. It's getting late and I need go to bed" he said. She looked at him with a angry and frustrated look, "unbelievable! Now you need to return home and sleep just to avoid me!" She exclaimed looking right at him. What she didn't see, is what Hiccup was doing with his foot and he was aiming for her leg. Before she even knew what happened, she felt a sharp pain in her knee, and she looked down just to see Hiccup kick her in the stomach and then she saw his knee, which made contact with her face. Since, she was in pain, she didn't notice Hiccup rush away back to the village.

Somehow, she found her way to the cove entrance, and ended up slipping on a fish and fell into the cove and landed hard on her back while hurting her arms and legs. "Well, isn't this great. Not only am I hurt, I'm also lost" she muttered as she struggled to stand up, only to hear a sound. She froze and slowly turned around to see Toothless staring at her, 'well, I'm now dead. I'm going to die at the mouth of a Night Fury and no one is going to know where my body is' she thought. She tried to remain calm but the Night Fury growled at her and opened its mouth and she ended up fainting from fear.

Toothless knew exactly what he was going to do when he got her attached to the underside of the sattle. He flew over the pond and dropped her in there several times and she ended up waking up after he dumped her in the pond for the last time. He flew to the ocean dumped her in (the same thing as the Astrid goes for a spin scene in the movie, except she is underneath Toothless). 'Please kill me already instead of torturing me' she thought as Toothless joined other dragons that are going to Dragon Island. She noticed that other dragons were staring at her as Toothless carried her to the nest. "Hey dragon. Please kill me instead of making me suffer" she said to Toothless and she could've sword that the dragon grunted. "Great, this dragon is going to scare me to death before killing me" she muttered unhappily.

When she saw the dragon queen, she didn't know what to think before passing out from fear. Toothless flew out of the nest and carried her and continue dropping and retrieving her unconscious body from the water. Once back in the cove, Toothless dropped her body in the water and then carried her and dropped her in the highest tree. She was freezing and she was soaked to the skin because of her clothes were soaked. She tried to stay awake but passed out and fell out of tree and landed on the ground on her side really hard.

...

The next day, she felt someone trying to wake her up. She woke up screaming as if she had a nightmare and clung to Hiccup for dear life. "Uh, Astrid? What are you doing?" He asked confused. "Please don't let that thing torture me again!" She said nearly crying as she clung to him. "Ok, Astrid. What happened?" He asked even though he had some idea what happened to her.

"This Night Fury kept dunking me into the ocean and pond and it scared me to death since I thought it was going to kill me and it took me to its queen. And it went back to dumping me into the ocean and pond before taking me up to a tall tree and leaving me there." She said as she cried into his tunic. "I might have something to tell you about that dragon later," he said as he picked her up and carried her. "I think my arm is broken" she said looking up at Hiccup. "Hiccup did you find her?" Asked the blacksmith.

"Yeah. I found her but she says that she was tortured by a dragon" he said, now looking at her. He saw that her clothes were soaking wet and has holes in it. She looked like she was sleeping in a body of water all night. "I've seen a few dragons out last night. They seemed happy but we watched them and they just ignored us. As long as they don't bother us, then I'm fine with dragons" said the blacksmith and Astrid just fell asleep in Hiccup's arms. Hiccup just looked down at her sleeping in his arms, 'she's really cute when she falls asleep' he thought.

They reach Gothi's and Astrid tells her story to Gothi. She gives them healing properties for her arm and other things. Gothi via Gobber tells her that she has to live with Hiccup and Stoick from now on since her parents were killed in dragon raid awhile back. Astrid was relieved to hear that she will be living with Hiccup but she is still to weak to be doing anything, so Hiccup had to carry her everywhere and she was fine with it.

One day while Hiccup was carrying Astrid, they ended up running into Snotlout. "Hiccup, why are you carrying her?" Snotlout asked. Hiccup just sighed, "she can walk but she wants me to carry her everywhere" He said. Snotlout just gave them a look that said prove it, so Astrid got out of Hiccup's arms and confronted him. "Snotlout just leave me and everyone else alone. I'm not going to live with you or marry you." She said punching him in the face and she went back over to Hiccup and she got in his arms. "How am I going to explain this to my father?" He muttered. She just looked at him, "I'll tell your father" she said.

A few days later, Stoick came back and was surprised by the fact that Astrid's stuff are in the loft with Hiccup's stuff and why Hiccup has to carry her everywhere. Hiccup just walked out of the house while Stoick and Astrid talked. "Astrid, why is your stuff in here? And why does Hiccup carry you everywhere?" He asked. "Chief, I think I may have disturbed a dragon in the woods so it kept dumping me in bodies of water and stuck me in a high tree. Hiccup found me the next day and carried me to Gothi. Since my parents died in a dragon raid, I have to live here and I'm just making Hiccup carry me everywhere for the fun of it" she said. Stoick seemed pleased to hear that. "Chief, can you marry us when we are both 20 years old?" She asked. "Ok Astrid, I'll have Hiccup marry you since I know you both like each other." he said smiling at her.

The next day, Hiccup had a basket of fish on his back with Astrid trailing behind him. "Astrid, come on. I just want to show you something" he said as he went to the cove. They reach the cove and Astrid just sits down on a rock while they wait for Toothless. Toothless flew over to them and ended up freaking Astrid out but Hiccup managed to calm him down. "H-Hiccup that is the same dragon that tortured me the other day" she said looking like she's about to cry. "Astrid it's completely ok. Get over here" he said.

She got off the rock and stood next to Hiccup who extended her arm and Toothless met her hand. Hiccup gets on Toothless and Astrid reluctantly gets on behind him. Toothless decided to go smooth since he almost gave her a heart attack. "Toothless, go easy on her. Just don't try to kill her like last time" Hiccup said and Toothless just gave him a gummy smile. Hiccup looked back at Astrid who seemed to be praying for life, "please don't kill me. Please don't kill me." She pleaded. Toothless took off and flew smoothly (just think of the Romantic Flight scene from the movie) while Astrid just clung to Hiccup for dear life. "Astrid, it's ok to let go and look around" he said.

Reluctantly, she let go and looked around at the peacefulness and put her chin on Hiccup's shoulder while they flew around. After a while, they landed and Astrid got off and waited for Hiccup to get off. "That wasn't so bad was it?" He asked and she just replied with a grin, "It was better this time". Then she became seriously, "Hiccup we've got to tell your father about the dragon queen" she said and after a few minutes, they figured out who would do it. Astrid went over to Toothless and hugged him, "sorry about freaking out earlier." She said and Toothless just licked her face. Hiccup and Astrid both went to go tell Stoick about the Red Death.


End file.
